Responding to Pennycook, Alicia Kearns, a shadow Home Office minister, said she was disappointed by the fact that she just got a “technocratic history lesson” from the minister.She went on:208 secret rooms and a hidden chamber just one metre from cable serving City of London and the British people.That is what the unredacted plans tell us that the Chinese Communist Party has planned for its new embassy if the government gives them the go ahead.Indeed, we now know they plan to demolish the wall between the cables and their embassy cables, in which our economy is dependent.Kearns said this would mean the Chinese could have access to “cables carrying millions of British people’s emails and financial data”, and she said this meant they would have “a launchpad for economic warfare against our nation”.

She asked if ministers were aware of these plans, if they have concerns about them, and if they have asked the Chinese for an explanation.She asked Pennycook to confirm that the government plans to approve the application.She went on:Labour promised a new relationship with China.Yet UK export goods are down 23%.Surrendering all security for Chinese trade was always a bad policy.

But surrendering all security while exports plummet is frankly insanity.She said the government should refuse the application.Some Labour MPs have joined the Conservatives in condemning plans to allow the Chinese to build a new “super-embassy” in London.In a Commons urgent question, triggered by a Telegraph report claiming that the building would include a “hidden chamber” very close to cables carrying data for City banks (see 12.54pm), Alicia Kearns, the shadow Home Office minister, said the Chinese could use the building as “a launchpad for economic warfare against our nation”.

(See 1.06pm.) None of the Labour MPs speaking during the UQ backed the plan, and one of them, Sarah Champion, called for the application to be rejected, saying the government should “stand up to bullies, not reward them”.(See 1.19pm.

)The government is to delay the progress of the Hillsborough law while ministers thrash out a compromise, amid concerns from MPs and families over how it will apply to serving intelligence officers.Wes Streeting has criticised the centre-left of politics for an “excuses culture” which blames Whitehall and stakeholders for the slow pace of change, saying politicians “are not simply at the mercy of forces outside of our control”.Keir Starmer has told MPs he is open to the idea of an Australian-style ban on social media for young people after becoming concerned about the amount of time children and teenagers are spending on their phones.A Home Office TikTok account posting footage of deportations and arrests set to dramatic music has been criticised for turning “brutality” into “clickbait”.For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

And here are two more comments on the Scottish government’s budget.From the Times columnist Kenny FarqhharsonMuch to welcome in the Scottish budget but it’s remarkable how many of the measures were simply tweaks to copy what Labour is doing in England (mansion tax, breakfast clubs, etc) or position Scotland as marginally more generous than south of the border (income tax thresholds for lower paid).SNP world view is defined by England.From Douglas Fraser, BBC Scotland’s business and economy editorAs a tax giveaway, it’s not huge - £50m handed to income taxpayers by raising two of the lower thresholds by more than inflation.The point at which you start paying 21 pence in each extra pound earned, up from 20 pence, goes up by slightly more than £2000 from £27,492 to £29,527.

That’s a reduction in an annual tax bill of just over £20.But the stealth tax on higher rates goes on.As people’s income goes through the higher rate of income tax, remaining at £43,633, they’ll pay 42 pence on each extra pound earned.And this BBC graphic shows how Scottish taxpayers compare with taxpayers in the rest of the UK in terms of the amount of tax they pay at different income levels.The Scottish government will find it hard to maintain standards in the health service over the next financial year without finding extra money for the NHS under the plans set out in its budget today, the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank says.

In a comment on the budget, David Phillips, head of devolved and local government finance at the IFS, said:On tax, while the finance minister emphasised the giveaways – including the increases to the basic and intermediate income tax thresholds and new business rates reliefs –, the biggest policy announced was a tax rise: freezing the top three income tax thresholds until April 2029, which will drag more taxpayers into higher rates of tax.This mirrors UK government policy, although previous tax increases on higher earners mean they face substantially higher income tax in Scotland than in the rest of the UK.Planned new council tax bands for the most valuable properties also mirror UK government policy – and as in England risks wasting an opportunity for a much needed full scale revaluation of council tax.On the spending side of the budget, it’s a game of two halves.Both parts of the game involve only very small increases in overall day-to-day spending on public services – just 0.

6% above inflation in 2026–27, and 0.2% above inflation a year on average over the following two years.In the coming year though, the Scottish government addresses this by proposing increases in health and social care spending of just 0.7%.This allows it to avoid cuts to other services, but without heroic improvements in productivity will almost certainly not be enough to maintain let alone improve services.

Top-ups to health and social care funding seem likely, which may mean the next government having to raid other budgets part-way through the year,From 2027–28 onwards, the Scottish government proposes much bigger increases in spending for health and social care averaging 2,4% a year, but that means cuts to spending on other services,On average, these amount to 1,7% a year.

Local government and finance is set to see reductions averaging 2,1% a year in real-terms, which would require council tax increases of around 8% just to hold budgets constant,The IFS also complained that the way the Scottish government set out its budget figures made it hard for people to understand what was really happening,There was confirmation of that a few moments ago when Evan Davis interviewed Ivan McKee, the Scottish government’s minister for public finance, on the PM programme,Davis kept asking whether, overall, Scottish taxation was going up or down as a result of these measures, but McKee was evasive and Davis never got a proper answer.

Scotland has six bands of income tax.Here are the bands, and rates, for 2026-27, as set out in today’s Scottish government budget.In the rest of the UK there are just three rates.The personal allowance is £12,570, which means people do not pay any tax on that amount.Above that, in 2026-27, people on the basic rate will pay 20% up to £37,700.

After that, they pay the higher rate, 40%, up to £125,140.And, after that, they pay the additional rate, 45%.Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has said that the government made a mistake when it set out a proposal for an opt-out copyright law for artificial intelligence (AI).She was giving evidence to a Lords committee alongside Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, who said that the government was having a “genuine reset moment”.The government infuriated almost the entire creative sector when, under plans to modernise copyright law so as to make it applicable to AI, it proposed that AI data systems should be able to use creative material unless artists specifically opted out of allowing this.

Artists, led by figures like Paul McCartney, argued that this was tantamount to theft, and that it could wreck the creative industries sector.Giving evidence to the Lords communications and digitial committee, Nandy said:One of the learning points for this government was that it was a mistake to start with a preferred model.She said there were “challenges with the opt-out process that we hadn’t anticipated” and she said the government should not “rush in” to change.And Kendall told the committee:We are having a geniuine reset moment.We are genuinely trying to find a way forward.

She also said artists should have control over their work, and get rewarded for it.In a thread on Bluesky, Thangam Debbonaire, who was shadow culture secretary before the election but who lost her seat to the Greens and who now sits in the Lords, said she was glad that a reset had happened at last.She also suggested that if she had become culture secretary, the “mistake” would have been avoided.Point of information from me: in late 2023 I went to the then Shadow Sec of State Pete Kyle outlining the concerns and the need for a base line of transparency and for recognition and reward for creators.That was the policy of my Shadow DCMS team.

#justsaying] #AIandcopyrightThe Department of Health and Social Care has published the text of Wes Streeting’s speech to the IfG conference this morning.(See 9.45am.)Heather Stewart is the Guardian’s economics editor.Former Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) chair Richard Hughes has been giving evidence to the House of Lords economic affairs committee.

He kicked off by apologising – again – for the inadvertent early release of the OBR’s key budget document, the economic and fiscal outlook, last month, which prompted his resignation.Hughes also explained why he wrote the controversial public letter setting out the evolution of the watchdog’s forecasts, which sparked a row over whether Rachel Reeves had misrepresented the state of the economy.In short, he was clearly fed up with the flurry of briefing in the run-up to the budget, as the Treasury rolled the pitch for an income tax rise and then reversed course.He said:This was the first time in my 25 years working in fiscal policymaking in the UK and other places that the volume of speculation about the content of the OBR’s forecast was that great and that persistent.I’d become concerned that that could create a damaging impression about the professionalism and integrity of the OBR in the way in which it conducts the preparation of its forecasts.

In particular, he was clearly cross about claims that a last minute change to the OBR’s projections had prompted the change of heart about income tax.It was not the case that variation in the OBR’s judgments was driving policy.I thought it was very important to correct that misconception.Hughes also underlined the gulf between election manifestos and government policy in the UK.He said:The costed part of the Labour’s manifesto had them raising and spending around £8-9bn over the course of the government.

If you look at their first budget they raised £40bn in tax and they spent £70bn, so it was nothing like what their actual fiscal plan turned out to be in government.Shona Robison, Scotland’s finance secretary, has unveiled the Scottish government’s budget for 2026-27.Here are the key points.Two new council tax bands are being introduced for homes worth more than £1m.Thresholds for the second and third lowest rates of income tax are being raised by 7.

4%, meaning more people will fall into the lowest rate.In her speech Robison said:That is an increase in these thresholds of almost 11% in two years and, as a result, even more people in Scotland can expect to pay less tax than if they lived in England, Northern Ireland or Wales.That is over 55% of Scots set to pay less income tax because they live in Scotland and have a Government led by the SNP.Every primary and special school in Scotland will have a breakfast club.The Scottish child payment will be increased to £40 per week for families with a child under one-year-old from next year.

In her speech Robison said:The first year of a baby’s life is one of the most exciting times for any family, but we know this time can bring extra stress and costs too, and that is why this Government is delivering the strongest package of support for families with young children anywhere in the UK,A private jet tax will be introduced at some point in the futre,And an airport departure tax will also be put in place by April next year, with a consultation on a potential exemption for the Highlands and Islands,Robison said:I say to those who choose to travel by private jet in Scotland, you will pay and pay a fair share for that privilege and, in doing so, will be making Scotland a fairer nation,Colleges will get an increase of £70m.

Council funding will go up 2% in real terms,In her speech Robison said she hoped this meant councils would take “reasonable decisions on council tax”,Business rates will be cut for the lowest three valuations, and transitional relief of £184m will be introduced over the next three years, to compensate firms affected by the recent revaluation,BBC Scotland has more details on its own live blog,Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, has summoned the Iranian ambassador over the crackdown on protests in the country.

In a statement to MPs, she also announced new sanctions on the regime.She said:The UK has already designated key players in Iran’s oil, energy, nuclear and financial systems.Further measures will target finance, energy, transport, software and other significant industries which are advancing Iranian nuclear escalation, and we will work further with the EU and other partners to explore what additional measures might now be needed in response to developments.Cooper did not give further details of the sanctions.We have further coverage of what is happening in Iran on our Iran crisis live blog.

Keir Starmer is not the only party leader pledging to focus on the cost of living.(See 2.56pm.) At the Plaid Cymru press conference in Cardiff this morning, Rhun ap Iorwerth, the party leader, said the Senedd elections this year would allow his party to create “a fairer, more ambitious Wales”.He went on:Whether that’s through fixing the NHS, helping Welsh-owned businesses grow, supporting families struggling with the cost of living crisis, or demanding fairness and standing up for Wales – a Plaid Cymru government will always do what’s right by our communities